I know it’s hard to find the time, energy and will to exercise regularly. But you have to—it’s the difference between living and dying. Food plays a huge role in how your body functions, but movement and other crucial lifestyle choices do too. I don’t know what will motivate you to get moving, but here’s what did it for me:
While recovering from health scares and overhauling my diet, I decided to return to cycling competitively. And I decided I needed something to push towards. I thought of the most difficult physical challenge that might still be within my reach, and I decided to compete in La Ruta de Los Conquistadores in 2014.
La Ruta is touted as the most difficult mountain bike race in the world. I’m not sure if you can quantify that sort of thing, but from what I’ve seen—and now experienced firsthand—it’s pretty damn hard. It’s a three-day race, going from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica to the Atlantic, covering 161 miles and 29,000 feet of vertical climbing over five mountain ranges. All off road.
My training involved working out five or six times a week, lowering my body fat, dropping weight, getting stronger, and teaching my muscles how to endure suffering and then recover as quickly as possible so that they could go right back to suffering again.
During one workout in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, I was riding alone, pushing really hard, and feeling strong on the bike. After passing a peloton of strong riders, spinning hard at 26 mph, I heard heavy breathing from behind me, followed by a raspy voice with a West Indian accent egging me on: “Come on, man! Work it out, you got it, push it, bring it!” At first, I was annoyed that this guy behind me was sucking my wheel and pushing me to work harder so he could draft me and benefit from my hard pull. But when I looked over my shoulder, I saw the elated face of a guy who looked to be in his fifties, with a graying goatee, sweat and salt caked on his face, pushing hard to push me harder. I was inspired.
He was riding a gorgeous and very, very expensive bike, and the joy on his face was infectious. As we approached a big descent, he kept pushing me to pedal harder—I did, and we ripped past a second group of strong riders, now pushing 40 mph, his front wheel glued to my back wheel. We came into the straightaway and continued to push a hard gear, maintaining our speed. Toward the end of the flats, he pulled by me, slapped my ass, and said, “Good work. See you next time!” As he peeled off and left the park, I noticed something different about him, and it took me a minute to realize that where his left leg should have been, he had a prosthetic leg from the knee down, fitted into his bike shoe, clipped to his pedal. Whoa. Not only was he many years my senior, but he had only one leg!
I hope to see him in the park and ride with him again, but if I don’t, I won’t ever forget him pushing me on from behind, encouraging me. He obviously had no idea how much I had to overcome to get to where I was on the bike, but seeing him and all that he had to overcome to get to where he was made me realize one thing: no excuses.
Many of you might be surprised to learn that gut health goes way beyond food. Things like exercise, stress reduction, sleep, meditation, slowing down and being in nature ALL contribute to the overall gut health picture and I can’t wait to dig into this in depth with you during our 7 weeks together. Here’s a short video I filmed for you that touches on some of these all-important factors that truly do influence your health in a big, big way.
There’s so much to learn about and I can’t wait to teach you! Don’t forget to use code GUTHEALTH50 to save $50!
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